The Professional Email

Lecture in Professional English 26 June 2013

Albukhary International University Jaime Alfredo Cabrera

Four Parts of an Email

1. Email address

2. Subject box

3. Body of the email

4. Attachments

1. The email address

Unprofessional email addresses

• Gives a wrong impression of who you are now. Example: cutepartygirl@yahoo.com

• Not related to the email content. Example: an application letter from badboy@aol.com

• Does not give key information to recognize you. Example: a student email from manvigo@gmail.com

1. The email address

Professional email addresses

• Gives a correct impression of who you are now. Example: maria_jose@yahoo.com

• Related to the email content. Ex: Application letter from web_designer@aol.com

• Gives key information about you. Example: a student email from Nur_Hassim_Kenya @gmail.com

1. The email address

A good email address

• Identifies you with key information

• Makes you unique from all other email addresses in a receiver’s in-box

• Easy for you to be remembered by others

• Can be used for any professional purpose

• Does not include outdated ideas about you: 1982, sweet-sixteen, rock_music_fan

2. The subject box

The subject is VERY SHORT, with two parts:

1. What’s the main topic

2. What the receiver should do

Examples:

Saturday Night Party (Please come)

Uniform Proposal (For your approval)

Ramadan Prayers (For your information only)

Flood Victims (Urgent action requested)

Note: About using capital letters

• Using ALL CAPITAL LETTERS LIKE THIS IS RUDE BECAUSE IT IS LIKE SHOUTING. Do not do this in any part of the email.

• Acronyms such as NATO, or USA use capital letters.

• The first letter of a sentence is always a capital letter.

• The first letter of proper nouns is always a capital letter: Mary, India, Halley’s Comet.

• The pronoun I is always a capital letter.

3. The body of the email The formal email includes five parts; each part is single-spaced. Between the parts, use double-space. 1. Heading: Formal name, title (Dr. Mr.

Prof.), position (Chief of Police), Company name, Company Address

2. Salutation: Dear Mr. , Ms., Mrs. Sir, Madame; To Whom It May Concern

3. Body: Next slide 4. Closing: Yours truly, with a comma,

capital first letter 5. Signature: your complete name, title,

position, company, contact information if possible

Single-spaced

Double-spaced

Single-spaced

Single-spaced

Single-spaced

Double-spaced

Double-spaced

Double-spaced

Heading

Formal address + Formal name

Position, Company Name

Company Address

Dr. Hashima Howard-Jones

Chief Librarian, Howard Jones News Corp.

1234 Smith Boulevard, San Francisco

California, USA 20041

Salutation

For a formal effect, use comma • Dear Dr. Jones, • Dear Sir, • Dear Madame,

For a very formal, serious effect, use colon • To Whom It May Concern: • Sir: • Madame: • Gentlemen of the Jury: • To the Board of Directors:

Professional Email: 5 Parts of the Body

1. Begin with a positive statement (say thank you for something?)

2. State the purpose of the communication

3. State what you want the receiver to do (or not do): be precise and complete – when, where, how

4. State why this is necessary

5. End with a positive statement (say thank you for something?)

Example

1. Positive: Thank you for your email.

2. Purpose: This is to inform you that the Board will meet tonight. Please confirm your attendance before 4:30 p.m. today.

3. What the receiver should do: You are to present the riot report at about 8:30 p.m. for five minutes maximum.

4. Why necessary: The board needs to summarize your report to the founder tomorrow morning.

5. Positive: Thank you for your kind cooperation.

Example

Thank you for your email.

This is to inform you that the Board will meet tonight. Please confirm your attendance before 4:30 p.m. today.

You are to present the riot report at about 8:30 p.m. for five minutes maximum.

The board needs to summarize your report to the founder tomorrow morning.

Thank you for your kind cooperation.

Single-spaced

Double-spaced

Single-spaced

Double-spaced

Single-spaced

Double-spaced

Double-spaced

Double-spaced

Single-spaced

Single-spaced

The email should be

• As short as possible (very short)

• As clear as possible (very clear)

• Straight to the point (direct)

• No beating around the bush (direct)

• No flowery language (simple English)

• Use polite language (no offensive language)

• Use neutral language (nothing that might be offensive to other cultures)

Closing

• Thank you for your kind cooperation.

• Thank you for your attention.

• Thank you once again.

• Your cooperation is appreciated.

• Your input is appreciated.

Signature Yours truly, Jonas Auddin (Ms.) if name doesn’t show gender Director of Operations Sunac Shipping Lines, LTD. Singapore Jon Smith (Mr.) if name doesn’t show gender Scholar (Senior Student, Senior Faculty, Senior Lecturer) School of Business Management Ankara University, Turkey Avery Howard (Ph. D.) instead of Dr. Avery Howard (M. D.) instead of Dr.

3. The body of the email

A memo has a subject line (Re:) after the heading

1. Heading

2. Subject line

3. Salutation

4. Body

5. Closing

6. Signature

4. The attachments

Attachments should be very short but complete. Include: Content Sender Date Version Example:

Refl-Diary Faris Hashim Feb-01-13 v2 Vocab-Wkbk Aris Tuttle 09-Mar-13 v17 Proj-Proposal Mary John 09-Mar-13 v01

Refl-Diary Faris Hashim Feb-01-13 v2 Vocab-Wkbk Aris Tuttle 09-Mar-13 v17 Proj-Proposal Mary John 09-Mar-13 v01